


The Final Loop

by FoundFandomFamilies



Series: Take Two Studio [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Blink and you miss it hint at suicide, Can you Tell I don't understand tags?, I should stop before I scare away anyone who even considers reading this, It’s more of a set up than an actual story, Joey Drew is a Twat, Joey and Henry yell at each other a bit, Please read, Speaking of tags, That should be a main tag, but i tried okay, honestly what even is this, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 02:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17778614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoundFandomFamilies/pseuds/FoundFandomFamilies
Summary: “How many times have we done this Henry?” Joey asked instead, causing Henry to blink a little in surprise. “This routine of ours, what’s the number?” He was asking it so causally that Henry had to stop his jaw from dropping in disbelief at the nerve of the man.“I lost count.” Henry grit out, his hand absentmindedly clenching and unclenching next to him. Joey hummed in response, now slowly shuffling past Henry out of the room and over to the storyboards. Henry's eye twitched and he followed, still keeping a wide distance from the old man however. For once, Henry had no idea what was going to happen next.





	The Final Loop

Henry was stalling. He always did this, recently at least. He'd take his sweet time waiting as long as he could, reading over every single thing as slow as humanly possible, before he eventually found his way in the kitchen area. Every time, no matter how stubborn he was, he always found listening to Mr Joey Drew himself, the great bastard. Something was different this time around however. For the first time, Henry found himself being the one to speak first. Call it sudden confidence, call it being tired of this bullshit or all it him offically going insane! Call it whatever you want, but apparently this was where he wa in his life.

“You look tired.” Henry stated tensely, the barely hidden resentful tone of his voice making the old man in front of him chuckle, obviously caught of guard. Dull grey eyes stared at Henry with a curious glint in them, the impressive bags under his eyes making him look like a wrinkly old raccoon in Henry mind. To put it generously.

“How many times have we done this Henry?” Joey asked instead, causing Henry to blink a little in surprise. “This routine of ours, what’s the number?” He was asking it so causally that Henry had to stop his jaw from dropping in disbelief at the nerve of the man.

“I lost count.” Henry grit out, his hand absentmindedly clenching and unclenching next to him. Joey hummed in response, now slowly shuffling past Henry out of the room and over to the storyboards. Henry's eye twitched and he followed, still keeping a wide distance from the old man however. For once, Henry had no idea what was going to happen next.

“Ever wonder what would of happened if you hadn’t of left the studio?” Joey continued conversationally, Henry stiffening a little. Yes, that had been a thought that had plagued him multiple times as he had wandered the studio, back in the early stages but well... While it had taken him a while longer to figure it out than it should of, he knew that it would of made no difference.

“You know I’m not him.” Henry whispered softly, almost inaudibly. “None, none of any of this is real. The studio fell because of money problems and everyone left on their own accord. This...This story your telling, whatever it is, you need to let go. Let me go.” He didn’t know if sounded desperate or pleading or if there was a difference between them. He didn’t even really know why he was focusing on that right now.

If Joey had heard him, he certainly showed no sign of it but damn it if this wasn’t the furthest Henry had ever gotten through to him. “I don’t know why you’re doing this but I know it’s unhealthy, so why can’t you just end it for real? We've done this so many times-”

“You know, you once told me that I shouldn’t waste away my life in that damn studio. That I shouldn’t let it overtake everything else that was important in the world.” Joey turned to face him again and Henry took a few steps back at the sudden fire that was in his eyes. “You never understood, those cartoons? That “damn” studio? That was my life!! All I’d ever worked for, everything I ever wanted to accomplish and every single one of you failed me! It was all I had and you left Henry!! You left!” Joey pointed a shaking finger accusingly at him and something inside of Henry snapped.

“Maybe he did but I’m not him!! And, and the others? That’s not them either! You’re writing a story without an ending because you can’t accept that you failed! Not Henry, Not anyone else, you failed!! This isn’t the real world Joey, I'm not the real Henry! The real Henry is out there somewhere, living a full happy life with his wife and child and you couldn’t deal with it so you...you...” Henry trailed off as Joey began to laugh, taken aback. No, not laugh, cackle. A full blown manic cackle that sent genuine shivers down Henry's spine and made him take a few more steps back. His back was arched back as he bellowed with laughter, like this was the funniest thing he’d experienced in years. He was wheezing, Henry briefly entertaining the thought that maybe the old git might finally choke or something. When Joey's eyes finally met Henry's again, the signature sparkle that was always in his eyes was gone, and replaced with a dark and narrowed cold stare.

“It’s not real is it Henry? Maybe your right, maybe the real Henry is out there having a life. Maybe,” Joey waved a hand over at the board with all the letters from other workers pinned on it, “Maybe everyone did leave, but not really. No, no, no. No matter what, their souls will always be trapped in that hell of a studio because of what I’ve done. No one that worked there can ever leave, not really. You may think you have a life in the outside world but not really. Once you worked here you signed an unbreakable contract see? So that no matter what happens in your life, no matter what, your soul will always end up back here, trapped in an endless loop forever. The whole studio was cursed, it never stood a chance. Messing with magic you don’t understand does more than create monsters Henry. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, you’re just going to forget this all soon. Actually, maybe that’s why I’m telling you.” Henry frowned, trying to process want Joey was telling him.

“Joey I don’t...I didn’t understand any of that.” Henry finally said bluntly. Joey grinned a dark unhinged smile before taking a deep breath and collecting himself. Henry flinched back violently as Joey patted Henry's shoulder fondly, his eyes crinkling up in smile and head shaking. All traces of the maniac Joey from a few seconds ago vanished. But you’d have to be an idiot to convince yourself that it wasn’t still there.

“No matter. I'm the last one see, and the one who is spinning this whole tale. The ah, writer of the script for your cartoon if you will. I’ve been going through the same old story, making different tweaks each time, trying to see what stuck but to no avail!! No matter what I changed, I could never be satisfied for some reason. And that got me thinking, what if I’m going about this wrong? What if I’m telling the wrong story? I found myself trapped in the claws of writers block, this whole repetition thing was snuffing out my creative flame! So, what do you do in that situation?” There was a beat of silence before Henry realised that Joey was looking at him expectantly, obviously waiting for Henry to chime in. Half of him wanted to stay silent just to spite him, and the other half....well,

“You give up and let everyone go?” Henry tried.

“Nope!” Eh, Worth a shot. “You rewrite the story! Start from scratch, keep the same elements of course but give it a whole new fresh take! We're going back to the beginning Henry, the puzzle pieces and framework are all there, I just need to move the parts of the picture around to form a different one!”

“I don’t think you understand how puzzles work...” Henry found himself mumbling. But Joey wasn’t listening. Instead, he was rummaging around in one of the cupboards in the kitchen, a renewed spring in the old man’s step. Henry himself stayed rooted in the same spot. Like a god damn dead inside soulless tree. Wait, was he soulless?

“The studio obviously will have to stay that same, you can’t just destroy the very shell of what you’re trying to rebuild without it falling about but maybe, I thought, just maybe if I change the interior why...” Joey turned to face Henry again, an almost sincere genuine smile on his face. He’d almost believe it too if he didn’t know better by know. “Why we may just very well have a shot at a happy ending after all.” There was something silver in Joey's hands, something that Henry couldn’t see from his position on the other side of the counter. But whatever it was, the glint from it almost blinded him as the sunlight reflected off it. Henry was conflicted as to take a step toward him to...Stop whatever Joey was gonna do or just...back the fuck up.

“Just got to put the final piece on top...” Joey mumbled, seeming to forget Henry was there by the looks of it as he stared transfixed at the object in his hands. “Truth be told it was a long time coming. But no matter, everything is finally set in place, my work here is almost done.” Henry coughed, breaking Joey out of his thoughts. Joey chuckled emptily.

“Go and wait through the door Henry. I’ll be there in a minute.” He should refuse. This was the most that had it ever differed from the script. But it was that last part, that last part that caught him off guard and began to overwhelm his common sense out of pure curiosity.

_“I’ll see you there.”_

  
It was meaningless. He was so tired and empty at this stage, all the fight had long since left him ever as he still kept going. If anything, continuing on was just accepting defeat in this scenario. So...

Screw it.

He let out a sigh before making his way over to the door. Just as his hand rested on the door handle he turned back around, risking a final glance over at Mr Drew. He really did look old.

“You realise this isn’t going to fill whatever hole there is inside of you right? There really is only so many times you can do this.” Henry whispered softly, not even really expecting Joey to listen or pay him any mind. The man just shook his head.

“I know. But I’ve got to try. Maybe even this time around you might just push a little harder...” And with those parting words, Henry braced himself as he stepped through the doorway once again.

~~~

He awoke at his desk, blinking tiredly before grimacing at the odd angle he’d fallen asleep at. Yawning and leaning back dangerously in his chair, he stretched out his arms with a satisfying pop, not noticing how his hands trembled and heart beat was a little faster than it should be. He must of dozed off without realising. He was just about to check the time when the tell tale noise of Wally Franks knocking something over distracted him. Henry let out an amused chuckle before facing the young flustered looking janitor. Red faced and messy haired, Wally quickly straightened up the bucket he'd almost tripped over before leaning against the wall in mock casualness. Like he’d intended that to happen. Totally.

“Hey So, Mr-”

“Henry.” The animator corrected tiredly, although already knowing he was fighting a lost cause. Wally flashed him a lopsided grin.

“Righty then, _Mr Henry_ ,”

  
“Way too much emphasis there to be natural buddy.” Henry groaned fondly.

  
“The boss wants to see you in his office. Apparently it’s important.” Henry nods, pushing out the stiff wooden chair and standing up. Wally looks him up and down before a cheeky over exaggerated look of realisation graced his freckled features.  
“Say, you weren’t sleeping on the job were you?” Wally asked, looking more amused than accusing as he pointed a finger at him. Henry holds up his hands in surrender.

“Yeah, you caught me.” He jokes, before his smile falters a little. A pang of a strange emotion hit his chest and his brow furrows. There’s an overhanging feeling on wrongness that he can’t quite shake. He feels as though something is slipping away from his mind like sand, but he tried to catch it too late and what was left just dissolved between his fingers. What had he been doing before he’d woken up again?

“Everything alright? If you’re worried I’m gonna tell on you don’t be, trust me it would be extremely hypocritical considering the amount of times that I myself have-”

“No no Wally I,” Henry massages his head, “Sorry Just...” He glances back at the slightly smudged ink drawing on Bendy on his desk.

  
...

 

“I just had the strangest nightmare, that’s all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I uh, hope you liked Whatever this is! I actually had the idea for this series way before chapter five even come out but I could never work out the details, but then the final chapter came along and helped me work out just where I wanted to go with this! So yeah! I have a bunch of stories planned and a vaguuuuee direction of where I’m taking this. I promise there will be plot, but I can’t promise it’ll be very good Asdfghjkl. So we'll see how it goes!! Be sure to leave a comment if you want! Things that I can improve on, things you liked, if there even was anything in this for you to like because honestly what even happened here, I'm kinda flying into this half blind if I’m honest. Annnd this is turning into a ramble! Okay, thank you so much for reading!  
> (Also please excuse the unneeded amount of cursing in this, I have zero self restraint)


End file.
